bradley



@stmt @wie L. P. BRADLEY, OF NEW'IIAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 92,573, dated July 13, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT 1N .TAPE-MI-:Asn ms.

NON

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of theeame.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it Aknown that I, L. I. BRADLEY, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Tape- Measnres; and I do hereby'declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of thisspeciliCaltion, and represent, in

Figlue 1, a side View;

Figure 2, a transverse section;

Figure 3, a longitinlinal section; and in Figure 4, a transverse section, the central portion enlarged. v This invention relates to an improvement in tapemeasures, such as are constructed forself-winding that is, so that the tapelpulled outwill be returned by the reaction of a spring within the case, the object of. the invention being an alrangement whereby the action of the spring may be arrested at any desired point, and hold the tape when withdrawn, so as to prevent its being rewound within the case. To this end,

The invention consists in the arrangement of. a central knob or button in one side of the case, to which is iixed, upon the inside of the case, a bar, so that by Vpressing the knob. inward, the bar is raised from a,

notch or notches on the spring-cylinder, to permit the action of the spring, and so that when the pressure is removed from the knob, the bar will fall into a notch, or catch on the cylinder, and prevent the reaction of the spring.

In order tothe clear understanding of my invention, I will fully describe the same, as illustrated in the-accompanying drawings.

A is the case, within which is arranged a spring-cylinder, as seen in figs. 2 and 4, and so that the cylinder will turn'freely on the said bearinfr.

One side ofthe cylinder is provided with onev or more notches, a.

Upon one side `of the case, and centrally through the bearing C, is arranged a button, or knob, I), to which is attached, upon the inside, a cross-bar, j', and a spring is arranged within the bearing C, as. denoted in blue,'ligs. 2 and 4, the action of which spring is to force the knob outward and the bar j' on to the cylinder, as seen in iig. 2,in which position it engageswith one of thenotches, a, as seen in tig. 3, and prevents lthe reaction ofthe spring after the tape has been withdrawn; but when it is desirable to draw in or rewind the tape, press the button yI) inward, which forces the bar f from the notch on the spring-cylinder, as seen in fig. 4. VThen the spring will react, and wind the tape.

I do not wish to be understood as broadly claiminga self-winding tape-measure, suoli, IV am aware, is not new; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Lett-ers Patent, is

The arrangement of the spring-cylinder B within a case, A, combined with the knob D, arranged through the bearingof the cylinder, so as to operate the bar f, the whole operating in the manner herein set forth.

' L. P. BRADLEY. Witnesses JOHN H. SHUMWAY, A. J. flxnrrs. 

